RAILforum: Cascade Express Trains

This is topic Cascade Express Trains in forum Amtrak at RAILforum.

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Posted by yukon11 (Member # 2997) on :

Back in July, the Seattle Transit Blog made an argument for a Cascade express train, Portland to Seattle and Seattle to Portland:

http://seattletransitblog.com/2014/07/26/amtrak-cascades-express/

I think making #507 & #506 express trains, between SEA and PDX, might work. They would still have to provide a different train for intermediate stops.

Richard

Posted by Vincent206 (Member # 15447) on :

Well, well, the Seattle Transit Blog makes the big time! Now you know what unemployed tech nerds in Seattle do with their spare time.

With 2 more roundtrips coming in 2017, is it possible to make the new trips express and skip the less popular stations? The data in the post seem to show that Seattle, Tacoma and Portland generate the overwhelming majority of passengers on the Seattle to Portland trains. Without the smaller station stops, it might be possible to make the SEA>PDX trip in about 3:00 (which matches the typical drive time between the 2 cities). Local politics might make it difficult to cut out stops in Centralia or Kelso, however.